The Bose 901: A trilogy in three parts...

I was referring to the goal of hi-end audio in our homes and not amplification of a live event. With that said, I wonder how many here are going to celebrate the fidelity of PA's?

 

I'm just saying that your specific criticism of Bose is misplaced by virtue of Boae being ubiquitous in the live performance world. If the goal is fidelity to the original recording, and the original performance was played through Bose PA's, then you are stuck with the sound coming out of those PA's. "High fidelity" does not always mean good sound, it means true to the original performance.

In that way, I'm not a "high fidelity" kind of guy--I want pleasing sound, and if my system can make a crappy recording sound good, that's all the better for me.

 

True to the original recording, not true to the original performance. That said I agree that "high fidelity' does not always equal good sound.

 

Last year, I was over to my daughter's friend's parents' house for dinner and there was a pair of Bose 901's shoved into the corners of the living room (behind couches and side tables, as speakers are wont to be in most people's houses). They looked to be older models--probably dating from the 80's. They obviously had not been bought post-2000. The stereo was not turned on. The last time I heard a pair of Bose 901's was around 1990 and frankly, I don't remember anything about their sound. I always thought the pedestals were cool in an Eero Saarinen kind of way.

 

How many original recordings are made by capturing the output of PA speakers? Bottom line here is that Bose (with the 901s, etc) does not strive to faithfully reconstruct a recording in our own listening space. They confuse the masses into believing that inflated sound all over the living room is the way to go (using room reflections). Frankly, this marketing tactic will work because the chance that the average person will stumble across an experience with a true hi-end system is slim to none. I'm hopeful that this situation will improve over time.

 

me too. It appears doomed to be a niche market. I'm just hoping even that survives the next decade.

-Bill

 

They prefer it that way. The stands are all that I have left from rebuilding several pairs over the years. A huge PITA that is too. Sometime I make make something from them. Maybe some art/game tables for my daughter. Too short and too wide for much else.
-Bill

 

.....and many of us are all too familiar with crappy recordings. And these existed long before the loudness/overcompression war began. Many audiophiles seemingly only listen to well-recorded music (even if they don't enjoy th emusic itself!), so have no idea what us low-standard audio hobbyists that love music have to deal with.

This is why I think until around the late 80s, many speaker manufacturers included certain coatings, crossover elements and other methods to intentionally soften the sonic uglies contained in those crummy recordings, despite the sacrifice in overall accuracy. Not to mention the fact that many people are blessed with better-than-average hearing and listening to bright/grainy/overcompressed music - very common with rock and pop recordings - not very enjoyable and a speaker that reduces the audibility of those artifacts is a blessing, not a curse. This is why I believe those Andrew Jones-designed Pioneers are so popular: while still providing a good dose of detail, their overall sonic personality is one of smoothness & warmth, something really difficult to find at their price point these days.

 

Bose speakers are in no way "ubiquitous" in pro audio / PA world. The only time I ever see them is in specific situations like coffee shop acoustic events and such. Even then, they would hugely outclassed by models from JVC, Mackie, even Behringer betters Bose's modest live sound support options.

 

...but look at all the sound waves you get for the money!

 

You're all getting a little off track again...

 

Straighten them out Jeff... publish part II

 

Yep! Bring on part two! Must keep the lions at bay!

 

A-a-a-and that Free Bag of Sugar you all have been waiting for

More Meat!

 

I think Bose' premise with the 901 is that two unidirectional (above 300Hz) speakers in a typical living room can not reproduce the experience of a live musical event, regardless of the quality of the recording.

 

I wanna see specs never published before

 

Better yet: with modern photo equipment, some smoke and a bunch of lasers... show us all the individual reflected wave paths!

 

Whoa now! Somebody may get hurt.....

 

part two will go up on sat...

 

Agreed. I don't recall ever seeing Bose in a PA situation. I mostly notice JBL.

Doug

 

Time to take these 901s to the woodshed!!!?? Curious to find if they are setting a new standard in fidelity.

 

bump

 

Which is probably why there are other companies who offer speakers that emit sound from more than just one direction (though not in the same manner as the 901s) e.g. Magnepan, Quad, Definitive Technology, Martin-Logan, and "open backed" speakers that use conventional drivers mounted on a flat baffle like the Jamo R909 and all those DIY designs like this one (67 pages so far!). Not to mention all those other speakers over the years - and right now - that are equipped with a tweeter mounted on the back of an otherwise conventional speaker system to add "air" to what is emitted by the front-facing drivers. The Genesis G7.1c Signature is an example of this along with the Linkwitz Lab "Orion", an open-backed hybrid system (some speakers, I think one sold right now but cannot remember the manufacturer, also used a midrange driver mounted in a large tube that was open at the back of the enclosure, so the output from the rear of that driver's cone could supplement what was produced at the front).

 

A local tavern had a pair or two of 901's driven by a crown DC 150 and a marantz reciever as a phono stage. The 901's were good for cutting through the din of the crowd noise.